It is known that various surfactants have been found to be useful in cleaning compositions, such as shower gels, shampoos, and light duty detergents such as dish washing detergents. Un these types of compositions, good foamability is a prerequisite. The most widely used surfactants in these types of compositions are anionic surfactants such as alkyl sulfates, alkyl ether sulfates, sulfonates, sulfosuccinates and sarcosinates.
Although the use of anionic surfactants in these compositions permits the attainment of desirable properties, including good foamability, the degree of foam stability leaves much to be desired. Foam stability relates to the ability of the foam, once formed, to remain intact for extended periods of time, thus enhancing the cleaning performance of the surfactant compositions.
It is sometimes advantageous to use mixtures of surfactants in cleaning compositions when the surfactants can serve different functions, e.g., one serving to improve foamability and another serving to adjust viscosity. However, known surfactant mixtures typically provide a compromise between what can be achieved with the surfactant ingredients alone. For example, a mixture of more costly surfactants such as amine oxides, betaines and alkanolamides which provide good foamability by themselves, with less expensive surfactants which provide poorer foamability will result in the formulation of a cleaning composition having an intermediate degree of foamability and poor foam stability.
Alkyl polyglycosides are used as nonionic surfactants and are distinguished from other nonionic surfactants by their excellent detergent properties and high ecotoxicological compatibility. For this reason, this class of nonionic surfactants is acquiring increasing significance. They are generally used in liquid formulations, for example dishwashing detergents and hair shampoos. However, because of there increased desirability as surface active agents, there use as surfactants in many other types of products is growing rapidly.
While the use of mixtures of anionic and nonionic surfactants in most cases serves to further the objectives of both classes of surfactants, it would be much more desirable, and significantly less costly to employ, a single compound which would exhibit the favorable properties which are indigenous to both anionic and nonionic surfactants.